Caboose

On Friday a couple of us were picked up from the hostel in Christchurch and taken to the station to catch the TranzAlpine train across the Alps to Greymouth.

Once I’d checked in and dropped my bags off at the luggage van I took a few pictures of the train and found my seat. The carriages are fairly comfortable, with nice big windows. During the journey the train manager gave a commentary pointing out various scenic or interesting things. In the middle of the train is an open observation car, this was crowded with the “my DSLR is bigger than yours” crowd determined to photograph everything — none of them with the manners to let other people take a turn. We were allowed to get off and stretch our legs at a couple of stations, including Arthurs Pass (below).

Once we arrived in Greymouth I put on my rucksack and trudged along to the Neptune’s International Backpackers. It’s a old hotel restored as a hostel, quite comfortable and with really good hot showers.

In the evening I joined a tour of the Monteiths brewery, along with lots of other people from the Magic bus and the Australians I’d met on the train (Cal, Claire and Simone). The brewery tour was good, with a tasting afterwards and the opportunity to pour our own beers while we waited for the minibus to take us for the included barbecue at a nearby pub.

The next morning I got up early to beat the rush for the shower, only to find that there wasn’t a rush. Eventually the others got up and the bus appeared outside to collect us. Driver Scotty provided music and occasional commentary as he drove us down to Franz Josef, with occasional stops along the way. My favourite was the Bushmans Center in Pukekura, with Bushman Pete explaining about his former work in capturing deer by leaping on them from helicopters and doing everything he could to upset vegetarians. I was feeling hungry so bought one of his (very tasty) possum pies.

Once we reached Franz Josef the bus dropped us at our hostels and people headed off for various activities — mostly glacier hikes. My budget doesn’t really allow for many organised activities and I’ve spent plenty of time wandering about on ice anyway. Instead I booked all the remaining accommodation for my time in New Zealand and then went for a walk around the foot of the glacier.

By the way, there are more pictures than I’ve included here. You can browse through the rest here.

I’m now in Queenstown and am having a day of doing laundry, trying not to spend money and taking advantage of cheap internet access.

While I was in Auckland I spent a while trying to work out what to do in New Zealand. I thought about hiring a car but for one person it’s just too expensive. Instead I booked myself onto the Magic bus, one of several hop-on-hop-off bus operators. As I was keen to take the TranzAlpine train I chose a route starting in Christchurch. A quick look on the internet revealed that the cheapest way to get there was to fly, I got a ticket with Qantas for NZD 79.

So on Tuesday evening I took the bus out to Auckland airport and flew to Christchurch. I’d booked ahead at Dorset House backpackers, which is probably the nicest hostel I’ve stayed in. It has a well-equipped kitchen, nice rooms, no bunk beds and just gives the impression that the owners care about the place.

Christchurch is a pleasant city, far fewer tall buildings than Auckland and I preferred the atmosphere. There’s even a free shuttle bus around the centre. I couldn’t resist going out to the International Antarctic Centre, which was (perhaps predictably) a disappointment. It really only contains two things, a cold room (-5°C) where they occasionally turn on some fans to simulate an antarctic storm and some penguins. The storm is nothing like the real thing, no reduction in visibility and not enough wind. The whole centre is also very biased towards New Zealand and American antarctic activities, in fact many of the maps show only the Ross Sea side of the continent. I can think of a lot of better ways to spend NZD 30.

On Thursday I went for a walk in the Port Hills to the south of Christchurch, walking up from the end of the bus line to the Sign of the Kiwi resthouse — where I stopped for coffee and scones — then along the hills past the top station of the gondola and down into Lyttelton. The wind up on the hills was fierce, on occasions knocking me sideways. Lyttelton has a small museum with a fairly random selection of exhibits and the town’s history as the departure point for many of the antarctic expeditions of the heroic age is represented by a separate section. In the evening I joined Bao and Toivo (not sure if I spelled that right) from the hostel for beer and pizza in a huge (and empty) sports bar called the Holy Grail.

I’m in Greymouth just now, catching up on website updates. Most of the internet places I’ve found recently have been both very expensive and very limited in terms of what you can do (so I can’t sort out pictures before uploading them).

Anyway, I spent a couple of nights in Auckland. Went to the Maritime Museum and the War Memorial Museum but didn’t really warm to the city. It seems like they’re so busy trying to be a modern city that they’ve demolished most things that would give it any kind of character. But I was recovering from a long and horrible flight, so maybe I was just in the wrong mood.

(The thin lines you can just see coming down from the Sky Tower is part of an “adventure” activity where you can jump off the tower and drop to the ground attached to a wire.)

The flight from Canada was extra horrible because I went out for dinner with Adrian and Amy on Friday night, then for a few beers. By the time we got back to the house and I got to bed it was about 2:30am, I had to get up around 4:30am for a taxi to the airport! I was so hungover on the Vancouver-LAX leg that I was seriously considering using the sick bag.

LAX has to be a top contender in the world’s dullest airports, the Tom Bradley International Terminal has only several copies of the same three (dull) shops, a few food outlets and a general feeling of shabbyness. After far too many hours there I boarded the Qantas flight to Auckland, over 12 hours of being squashed into a full 747.

This is costing me a fortune, so I’ll finish for now and try to catch up later when I can find cheaper internet access somewhere else.

I’m at Auckland airport, waiting for my flight to Christchurch. Haven’t had a chance to put anything up here the past couple of days.

More to follow, including my only photo from Auckland and a rant about the desolate and dull LAX.

It’s my last night in Vancouver. I’m having trouble typing, since last post I’ve been sailing (although no wind) and snowboarding (but falling over a lot). Here are some pictures:

I’ve been getting out of Vancouver a bit over the weekend.

On Saturday Mo (another former Nigerian VSO) collected me and we took the ferry across to the Sunshine Coast. A friend of hers has a house there, where we spent Saturday night. We had a couple of nice meals, wandered around a bit and caught up on all the news since we last saw each other in Nigeria.

Today Dugly and I took a fairly long trip for a bath. In the forests near Harrison, along various rough logging tracks there’s a lovely little hot spring, undeveloped apart from some hot tubs and decking. It was lovely sitting in the hot water and looking out at the trees and snow-topped mountains. The way back was less relaxing, various traffic holdups and torrential rain.

The weather has been lovely over the past few days, although a bit on the cold side.

I’ve been out and about a bit, visiting some of the museums and walking through more of Stanley Park.

The raccoon was just at the entrance to the park. Locals obviously feed the animals there as they were all very tame and approaching people looking for food.

Yesterday I flew back from Kelowna to Vancouver, going from a dry -7°C to a warmer and wetter place.

I met Adrian’s girlfriend Amy at her work, dropped off my big bag and set off for a wander to occupy some time. I only got as far as the big public library around the corner, which had the benefits of being warm and dry and having internet.

Once Amy had finished work we headed for the apartment, in the West End of Vancouver. Amy then took me for a walk to show me the neighbourhood and we had dinner at a Greek restaurant nearby.

This morning—after a nice lie-in— I did some washing then wandered into central Vancouver to buy some new rechargeable batteries for my digital camera.

The apartment is quite close to Stanley Park, so I went for a walk round the sea wall, which has only recently reopened after severe storm damage last year. It’s a lovely walk, especially on a cold, clear day like today. The first picture shows an apartment block near the park; the tree apparently represents the height of the trees that used to be in that area. The second picture is of ships waiting to enter the port.

These pictures show a view along the sea wall, Siwash Rock and the Lions’ Gate.

The past few days I’ve been staying with Tammie at her house in Kelowna, British Columbia. It’s a nice town by the side of a huge lake and is apparently popular with people wanting to escape the rain in Vancouver.

I spent most of Friday wandering around town, starting with an early-morning walk along the lakeshore.

The town is mostly quite low-rise, with quite a few nice old houses dotted around the streets. I visited the Okanagan Heritage Museum and the BC Orchard Industry Museum and went on a tour of the local brewery.

Yesterday Tammie and I went on a tour of a few of the local wineries: St. Hubertus, Cedar Creek and Summerhill Pyramid (that’s where the pictures were taken). On the tour of Summerhill I had to bite my tongue as they explained how their pyramid-shaped cellar and its magic powers improve their wine.

I’m sitting in Tammie’s house typing this as I eat my breakfast, after a good nights sleep.

Early yesterday morning I left Stirling with Mum and Dad, heading for Edinburgh airport. The start of a long day of airports and flying. I’d allowed plenty of time at Heathrow, in case of delays, so I ended up hanging around there for several hours. I’d bought access to the Servisair lounge in Terminal 1, so had somewhere pleasant to sit and something to eat and drink. Unfortunately, they only allow you in three hours before your departure time and my flight started boarding well before that so I only got two hours for my £18, not sure if it was worth it.

The flight from Heathrow to Vancouver seemed endless. The food was good (sausages and mash) and they’ve now introduced video-on-demand, so I could watch films and TV programmes until my attention span dropped to the point where I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I managed to doze for about half an hour and then woke up with the usual stiff neck.

Vancouver airport seems very new and shiny, lots of sculptures, nice wood panelling and a few water features. A lot of construction still seems to be going on. The immigration staff were polite and friendly, lots of questions about what I’m doing in Canada but that’s fair enough. Then I had to check in at the domestic terminal and sit and wait for my flight to Kelowna. By this point I was in that weird state that seems to happen after too much flying and not enough sleep, everything seemed a bit surreal, especially as the airport was mostly empty.

Today’s plan is to wander around town, see if I can persuade one of the Canadian mobile networks to sell me a pay-as-you-go SIM and buy a few supplies.